I wonder if it's deliberate that Sam doesn't haven't any male friends.

I mean, I figure he had good friends at college (we know there was Zach and Brady), but we've never seen him with a male "buddy" like we have Dean. We see Dean bonding with other males - Bobby, Gordon, Frank, Cas, Garth, Benny and even John, but Sam is seen as either butting heads with them or being downright enemies of them (Lucifer, Walt, Roy, Gordon, Kubrick, Greedy).

I know that Sam was close to Bobby but not in the same way that Dean was. Same with Garth and Cas. Both Garth and Cas attached themselves to Dean first, then got to know Sam. I figure they are as close to "friends" as Sam has in the show, but they're not just his friends.

I'm sure not if this is because there's never been a story line that has allowed Sam to develop a male friendship or because they have deliberately made this part of Sam's character (like his disastrous relationships with women).

It's not a complaint - just an observation.

Hmmm. *hugs* Sam. Maybe books are his other companion.

This is what happens when I enjoy a day off (yay back to 4 days a week!) and get my hair done. :)

I hope they don't use Cas to miraculously "fix" Sam this time. Surely the effects of these trials can't be fixed with a mere touch to the head (I mean, they could if they wanted them to be, but I hope they can't).

I remember noticing that and deciding it was just a repercussion of the way Sam was sheltered by Dean while growing up. I figured that as a kid, part of the way Dean protected a younger and smaller Sammy was to put himself - Dean - out there first, kinda of like a road block between Sam and anyone new and getting to know the guys first; keeping Sam kinda tucked out of the way and behind him, and once the newbie friended Dean, he would get access to Sam. So I think it is just a part of that. Sam is just used to Dean feeling out male newcomers first and when Dean is around, Sam just defaults to the background like that.

Another thing I suspected is that while Sam is friendly, he is hard to get to know because for all the crap we give him about being EMO, Sam actually keeps himself pretty well hidden and isn't easy to get to know - he is pretty emotionally cautious like that. I think that once he left Stanford, he didn't let himself open up again to making buddies. Dean is a lot more in your face and his brashness lends itself to a charm that draw people to him; getting to know Sam is more work.

Yeah - that makes a lot of sense to me. I find it interesting that Sam is the one we see comforting the victims and being accessible and yet he is actually pretty closed off when it comes to sharing himself with anyone else. I think that goes for women also. It was pretty telling that Sam didn't give a lot away to Amelia - he keeps everything close to his chest. And as we've seen, Dean knows Sam so well Sam doesn't really have to say much. When Sam does talk, it's usually about wanting Dean to open up.

I like the consistency we've seen with both Sam and Dean when it comes to making friends.